The skin is an especially attractive target for gene therapy. In particular, the ability to target genes to the epidermis of the skin could be used to correct skin-specific disorders as well as for the production of proteins secreted into the skin to correct certain systemic diseases. For example, genes expressing cytokines, interferons or other biologically active molecules could be used to treat skin tumors or other lesions. In addition, keratinocytes and fibroblasts or stein cells in the skin can secrete protein factors which circulate to treat systemic conditions such as hemophilia A or B. Despite the clear potential in using skin as a target for gene therapy, the major technical problem of an in vivo method of gene delivery remains largely unresolved. Since the stratum corneum (SC) acts as a significant physical barrier to gene transfer into the skin, the technical problem of how to deliver genes through this layer persists.
Similarly, muscle cells are also useful targets for gene therapy due to their ubiquity. Nonetheless, as with skin, there exists a need for a method to reliably introduce exogenous therapeutic material into muscle cells.
Gene therapy does not include only intrinsically therapeutic genetic material (i.e., genes that encode a missing or underexpressed gene product), but also genetic material which elicits an immune response when the gene product is recognized by the immune system. One of the oldest and most effective forms of preventative care against infectious diseases is vaccination. Safe and effective vaccines are available to protect against a variety of bacterial and viral diseases. These vaccines consist of inactivated pathogens, recombinant or natural subunits, and live attenuated or live recombinant microorganisms.
DNA immunization, a novel method to induce protective immune responses, was recently introduced into the scientific community and proven to be very effective in animal models. This technology is currently in safety and efficacy trials in human volunteers. DNA immunization entails the direct, in vivo administration of plasmid-based DNA vectors that encode the production of defined microbial antigens. The de novo production of these antigens in the host's own cells results in the elicitation of antibody (i.e., humoral) and cellular immune responses that provide protection against live virus challenge and persist for extended periods in the absence of further immunizations. The unique advantage of this technology is its ability to mimic the effects of live attenuated vaccines without the safety and stability concerns associated with the parenteral administration of live infectious agents. Because of these advantages, considerable research efforts have focused on refining in vivo delivery systems for naked DNA that result in maximal antigen production and resultant immune responses.
The most widely used administration of vaccine DNA is direct injection of the DNA into muscle or skin by needle and syringe. This method is effective in inducing immune responses in small animals, such as mice, but even here it requires the administration of relatively large amounts of DNA, ca. 50 to 100 ug per mouse. To obtain immune responses in larger animals, such as rabbits, non-human primates, and humans, very large amounts of DNA have to be injected. It has to be seen whether this requirement for very large amounts of vaccine DNA turns out to be practical, for safety and commercial reasons, in human applications. A need exists for methods of vaccine DNA delivery that require less DNA and are more efficacious than commonly used methods.
A cell has a natural resistance to the passage of molecules through its membranes into the cell cytoplasm. Scientists in the 1970's first discovered “electroporation”, where electrical fields are used to create pores in cells without causing permanent damage to the cells. Electroporation made possible the insertion of large molecules directly into the cell cytoplasm by temporarily creating pores in the cells which allow the molecules to pass into the cell.
Electroporation techniques (both in vitro and in vivo) function by applying a brief high voltage pulse to electrodes positioned around the treatment region. The electric field generated between the electrodes causes the cell membranes to temporarily become porous, whereupon molecules of the implant agent enter the cells.
Electroporation has been used to implant materials into liposomes and many different types of cells. Such cells, for example, include eggs, platelets, human cells, red blood cells, mammalian cells, plant protoplasts, plant pollen, bacteria, fungi, yeast, and sperm. Furthermore, electroporation has been used to deliver a variety of different materials, including nucleic acids, polypeptides, and various chemical agents into cells.
Electroporation has been used in both in vitro and in vivo procedures to introduce foreign material into living cells. With in vitro applications, a sample of live cells is first mixed with the implant agent and placed between electrodes such as parallel plates. Then, the electrodes are energized to apply an electrical field to the cell/implant mixture, which causes the cells to become transiently permeable, and the implant agent enters the cell. With in vivo applications of electroporation, electrodes are provided in various configurations such as, for example, a non-invasive caliper electrode that grips a fold of tissue whose cells are to be treated or a similarly non-invasive meander electrode that is placed on the surface of skin or of an organ. Electric charge is applied to such non-invasive electrodes and an electric field is generated in the underlying tissue. Alternatively, needle-shaped electrodes may be inserted into the patient (i.e., invasive electrodes), to access more deeply located cells. In either case, after the therapeutic agent is introduced into the treatment region, by injection or otherwise, e.g., jet injection, puncture mediated transfer, ballistic particle bombardment, the electrodes when energized apply an electrical field to the region. In some electroporation applications, this electric field comprises a single square wave pulse on the order of 100 to 500 V/cm, of about 10 to 60 ms duration. Such a pulse may be generated, for example, in known applications of the Electro Square Porator T820 or ECM830, made by the BTX Division of Genetronics, Inc.
Electroporation has been recently suggested as an alternate approach to aid in the treatment of certain diseases such as cancer by introducing a chemotherapy drug directly into the cell. For example, in the treatment of certain types of cancer with chemotherapy it is necessary to use a high enough dose of a drug to kill the cancer cells without killing an unacceptably high number of normal cells. If the chemotherapy drug could be inserted directly inside the cancer cells, this objective could be achieved. Some of the best anti-cancer drugs, for example, standard formulation bleomycin, normally cannot penetrate the membranes of certain cancer cells effectively. However, electroporation makes it possible to insert the bleomycin into the cells.
Despite the suitability of the skin as a target tissue for gene therapy, there are significant barriers to safe, easy, efficient, and economical gene delivery. In particular, the lipid-rich stratum corneum (“SC”), which is composed of dead keratinocytes surrounded by multiple, parallel bilayer membranes, represents a formidable physical barrier to gene transfer into or through skin. To overcome this barrier a novel, non-viral approach, involving the basic concept of electroporation to introduce genes into the epidermis is provided by the invention.
As described above, the technique of electroporation is now a well-established physical method that allows introduction of marker molecules, drugs, genes, antisense oligonucleotides and proteins intracellularly. However, there still exists a need for improved methods to introduce therapeutic agents directly into skin cells or through the skin and into muscle cells.